Turnovers could become the downfall of the Milwaukee Bucks

After a first round series that wasn’t that close, the current series for the Milwaukee Bucks is officially go time.

Milwaukee struggled mightily offensively in Game 2 against the Boston Celtics. The team looked sloppy in every possible way and never seemed to find a rhythm.

The concern with offensive struggles goes further back than only one game against Boston, though. The team has fought issues on offense since the postseason began. Those issues weren’t spotlighted during round one because Milwaukee just blew right through Chicago. However, if those issues aren’t able to be figured out against a great team like Boston, they could very well become the downfall of the Bucks in the playoffs this season.

Turnovers could become the downfall of the Milwaukee Bucks

If you’ve been following along with the Milwaukee Bucks during their postseason run this season, you know that turnovers have definitely plagued the team.

To put into perspective just how bad it has been for the team, we have to dig into where they rank among other teams in the playoffs. Among all remaining postseason teams, the Bucks average the most turnovers per game with 14.9, according to NBA.com/stats. All of the turnovers have impacted other parts of the offense. In addition to being the worst team in terms of turnovers, the Bucks also rank last among the remaining playoff teams in points per game with 105.1.

One of the biggest ways that a team can beat themselves is when they turn the ball over. It should be no surprise to anybody that a team that gives away possessions also struggles to put points on the board.

Jrue Holiday will likely be the biggest factor in Milwaukee solving their turnover issue, considering he is the point guard and has command of the offense for the most part. Even though the team has been struggling as a whole, that might all start with Holiday.

In the current playoff run, Holiday has averaged 3.6 turnovers per game. To use last year as a benchmark, that is over one whole turnover more than the 2.4 that he averaged during the championship run last season.

Holiday was particularly bad in the first round series against Chicago. In the Chicago series, Holiday averaged four turnovers per game and had two games where he had six turnovers. During 23 playoff games last season, Holiday only had six turnovers in a game once. He surpassed that number already in the first round alone.

Obviously, everybody will need to be better in order for the Milwaukee Bucks to start playing better offensively, but that will all start with Holiday. If your point guard is out of control, it’s hard to find an offensive rhythm with anybody.

The good news for the Bucks is that despite giving possessions to other teams, they give up the least amount of points of any remaining playoff teams at 96.3 points allowed per game. If the offense can find a consistent rhythm with the defense that the team is currently playing, it’s tough to imagine many teams being able to defeat them in a seven-game series.

Let’s just hope that they figure it out before it’s too late.